"This is the best little school in the Poway Unified School District. I have all of my kids in this school (all three). My oldest is in 5th Grade, I have another in 4th and my youngest is in Kindergarten. Now that they finally got rid of a couple of teachers that should have retired (or should have NOT been teachers) 20 years ago, the school is amazing! The PTA and Foundation are very welcoming. The staff works together and they really care about ALL the students and achievement. We have some ASD classes, and fully mainstreamed special ed students and ALL the students and staff embrace them. For the past 5 years or so Esther Hilleli, (ASD teacher), spearheads an Ability Awarness Day (Celebration). It is phenomenal! Thursday Sings once a month are so much fun and it helps build up the school/parent community. The teachers care! I would NOT have my kids any other place. I have some friends that AB is not their homeschool but would not bring their kids elsewhere. We love our little school with the BIG HEART!"

Parent Review | Rating:Posted 2014-07-29

"ABES was much better under the leadership of the previous principal. The current principal dismisses serious parent concerns and is at best inept. Although there are some teachers who embrace special needs children, the principal does not and sits silent during IEP's just as a figurehead. There are several outstanding teachers, but several abhorant ones too who are frankly emotionally abusive to some children. I am not the only parent who feels this way. I know 5 families who have pulled their children out of this school to home school them. New leadership and proper oversight of burned out/ inappropriate teachers has been needed for several years now. Good school scores mean nothing if children's self esteem is damaged."

Parent Review | Rating:Posted 2014-07-22

"There are some truly fantastic teachers at this school. The principal is very involved which is nice. The problem is the parent community. Discrimination runs rampant. If your child is not the right ethnic race, or you don't make enough money to support the foundation or the PTA regularly, or if your kids has any special need whatsoever, it's a tough school to be a part of. The Foundation and the PTA have too much influence over this school."

Parent Review | Rating:Posted 2013-11-12

"The teachers in this school are not that much mature to understand that when they make a mistake and are told by parents, they need to admit that they were not right. It's that simple! Instead they lie to you. My kid does the home works properly, except one time that she didn't finish it while she thought she did. The teacher said she lied to her Instead of being positive and say that possibly the kid didn't listen to her expectation for homework. This school makes me sick. They face with kids as if they are 50 or 60 years old not just an elementary age who still needs guiding in a positive way not condemning them to lying. Talking with the principal regarding that? It's a big joke and wasting your time since he won't take your side no matter what. It becomes even worse if you come from a different culture which means that they discriminate your kid easily at this school. They take you and your child self-steam away instead of providing a healthy environment . Not a nurturing, mentally healthy school at all. Like this incidents has happened many times to others too. The website doesn't let you leave a review without giving star/stars. Otherwise I would give it a zero!"

Parent Review | Rating:Posted 2013-04-26

"The issues I've had here that is taking away two stars from my original review at the beginning of the new year is that aggressive behavior from other children is prevalent. As much as the district talks about the core characteristics, which include "respect" and "kindness", the fact is that many kids have none when it comes to interacting with their peers. It's more than a challenge for an otherwise thoughtful child when constantly exposed to this negative behavior from other students. The worst part, is that the teachers do little. "Yard Duty" have been reported to completely ignore an upset child in favor of chit chatting with another monitor. They also claim they don't see ANY of the issues that have come up on a daily basis. I'm exhausted from trying to deal with the problems that arise on the home side that originate at school. I've had conversations with the school about this to no avail. I tried working with them. The bottom line is that it falls to the parents, most of whom are not teaching their children how to treat others with kindness and respect. Sad. I'm removing my child from school and will be homeschooling beginning this coming year (2013/2014)."